As they moved around the kitchen together, gathering keys and boots and the thermos he refused to leave the house without, Sabrina felt the familiar edge of fear still humming beneath her skin.
But it had something new wrapped around it now, something stronger than the fear.
Anger.Purpose.And a bone-deep determination that no shell company or resort plan or anonymous threat could ever touch.
Let them try, she thought as she pulled on her boots.Let them see what happens when they push someone who's had enough of being pushed.
She had land to build on, a life to claim, and a man who looked at her like she was worth fighting for.
That was more than enough to start.
ChapterSeventeen
Colby slid the last set of plans into their tube and pressed the cap on until it clicked.
The trailer settled around him in its usual noises.Thin metal skin ticking as it cooled.The low hum of the little fan he had insisted on bringing out here.The faint drip in the corner where a cooler sweated onto plastic sheeting.
None of that was what made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
He froze, head tilted.
There it was again.A faint clank from outside.Metal on metal.Too sharp to be a branch.Too close to the half-built cabin to be nothing.
He set the tube down on the folding table and stepped to the narrow window.
The trailer lights threw his reflection back at him in the glass.Beyond that, he saw it.
A low, shifting glow near the framed retreat cabin.Not bright enough to be a work light.Not steady enough to be anything he had left behind.
His chest went tight.
“Sabrina?”he called.
“Yeah?”Her voice floated from the little bathroom at the back.The water shut off a second later.
He kept his eyes on that flicker outside.“Stay in there a minute, okay?”
The door opened almost immediately.“Why?”
She stepped out, wiping her hands on a towel and wearing one of his T-shirts hanging to mid-thigh over leggings.Her tennis shoes made soft sounds as she neared.His heart kicked for a different reason.
“Hold on,” he said.He reached up and snapped off the overhead light.
The inside of the trailer dropped into dimness.The glow outside jumped into sharper focus.
Someone moved between the trees and the skeletal cabin.A shadow crossed the raw frame, then bent.The light flared as it caught metal in his hand.A can.A glint.The way the man handled it left no doubt in Colby’s mind what it was.
Gasoline.
The arsonist had come back.
“Colby?”Sabrina’s voice came closer.“What is it?”
He stepped away from the window and turned toward her.“Stay away from the door,” he said quietly.“Someone’s out at the cabin.”
She went still.“Out there?Now?”
“Yeah.”
